Links

Education

Capel Manor College

Full and part-time, day and evening courses, professional short courses and Apprenticeships, all leading to nationally-recognised qualifications, employment or further study.

Professional Short Courses at Level 2 and Level 3 for those already in the industry, seeking to update or accredit existing skills.

Highly qualified and vocationally experienced tutors.

Centres across Greater London including a 30-acre country estate in Enfield, and grounds in parks and farmland in Uxbridge, Acton, Crystal Palace and Regent’s Park.

Capel Manor is home to the National Gardening Centre, the Institute of Horticulture and Gardening Which? Magazine; and is equipped with wide-ranging plant collections, specialist laboratories and design studios, and facilities for teaching practical skills, such as horticultural machinery.

Hadlow College

Hadlow College, an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ and LSIS Beacon provider, offers full and part-time courses, including apprenticeships and degree level programmes, in a range of land-based and rural subjects.

Our campuses in Canterbury, Hadlow and London attract students from throughout Kent and the South-East, all of whom benefit from the excellent facilities, expert lecturers and high level of support; enabling them to develop the practical skills they need for a successful career in these industries.

Visit us on one of our taster days or information events – full details can be found on our website at www.hadlow.ac.uk/events.

HDC

Dedicated to progressing UK horticulture, the Horticultural Development Company (HDC) has been serving British growers through valued, near-market research and development for over 25 years.

The HDC’s work is funded through the collection of an industry levy which is channelled directly into research and development projects that serve the interests of over 300 crops through eight sector panels: Protected Edibles; Field Vegetables; Bulbs and Outdoor Flowers; Mushrooms; Soft Fruit; Hardy Nursery Stock; Tree Fruit, and Protected Ornamentals.

Warwickshire College

Warwickshire College is one of the largest general further and higher education colleges in the UK, providing high quality education and training for individuals and organisations at a local, regional, national and international level. The college has six centres in Leamington, Warwick, Rugby, Moreton Morrell, Henley-in-Arden and Pershore in Worcestershire.

Writtle College

Writtle College is one of the largest and best-known providers of horticultural education in the United Kingdom. Our courses prepare students to enter what is now a major employment sector that plays a significant role in maintaining and improving the quality of life in town and country. You will be taught by friendly and approachable staff who are highly regarded in their field and well-connected to the horticultural industries.

Associations, Federations, Institutes, Societies and Trusts

The Association of Professional Landscapers

The Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) comprises accredited landscape companies who design, build and maintain gardens throughout the UK. The rigorous inspection process to join is the toughest within the industry. Along with the initial inspection, each member is inspected annually to ensure each member has up to date insurances, complies with health and safety law and their quality of work is to the highest possible. The APL is the only landscaping scheme operator of Trustmark, a Government endorsed initiative that promotes professional trades to consumers.

The Horticultural Trades Assocation

Yuma Limited, based in Weybridge Surrey was founded in late 2002 and after becoming the first SAP Business One Partner in the UK back in 2003, Yuma remains one of the leading SAP Business One resellers in the UK.The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) is a modern, leading-edge trade association representing the UK garden industry.

Yuma's status as an SAP Gold Certified Partner means that you can benefit from our in-depth product knowledge and wealth of experience in implementing SAP Business One solutions into a diverse range of business types. As a company, Yuma only deals with SAP Business One and its associated applications and we are therefore 100% committed and focussed on the product.

Post implementation, Yuma boasts one of the largest dedicated SAP Business One support teams in the UK with a great deal of experience, ensuring that you receive the best possible support on a day-to-day basis.

Landscape Institute

The Landscape Institute is the Royal Chartered institute for landscape architects.

As a professional body and educational charity, we work to protect, conserve and enhance the natural and built environment for the public benefit.

We champion landscape and the landscape profession, through advocacy and support to our members, in order to inspire great places where people want to live, work and visit.

We work with government to improve the planning, design and management of urban and rural landscape.

We accredit university courses and promote professional development to ensure that landscape architects deliver the highest standards of practice.

British Association of Landscape Industries

The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) was established in 1972 as the UK’s representative trade association for the landscape sector and today plays an active role in working with other industry organisations and the government on key initiatives to improve our environment and develop a sustainable landscape industry. In addition, and as a member of the European Landscape Contractors Association (ELCA), BALI lobbies the EU on directives from Europe that have the potential to impact our industry here in the UK. BALI’s key objective is to raise standards across the landscape industry by supporting its members to provide a benchmark of excellence. Registered Membership is open to professional landscape designers and contractors and is only achieved as a result of a strict vetting process and is maintained by a regular Quality Standards Review. Affiliate membership is available to companies supplying quality industry-related products and services. Our members across the UK undertake landscape and garden design and construction, grounds and estate maintenance, and a range of specialist disciplines that include arboricultural services, sports turf construction, sensory gardens, hydroseeding, drainage and groundworks, roof gardens and green roofs and interior landscaping.

For more information on BALI, its work, and its members visit www.bali.org.uk.

Royal Horticultural Society

Since its foundation in 1804, the Royal Horticultural Society has been at the forefront of horticultural practice, research and education in the UK, and today it reaches millions of people through its gardens, shows, community programmes, publications and membership.

The RHS was founded with, and still retains, the principal purpose of encouraging and improving the science, art and practice of horticulture in all its branches.

Its founding members wanted to form a repository for all the knowledge which could be collected on the subject of horticulture, and to encourage others to work towards its further improvement, for the general improvement of the country.

Now, the RHS is the UK’s leading gardening charity, dedicated to helping people share a passion for plants, encouraging excellence in horticulture and inspiring all those with an interest in gardening.

Business Solutions

SAP - Business One

Find innovative ways to reach new customers, maximize efficiency, and drive profitable growth – with SAP Business One. This small business software can help you better manage every aspect of your company – from sales and customer relationships to financials and operations. Available on-premise, on-demand, and powered by our in-memory computing platform (SAP HANA) – the choice is yours.

Yuma

Yuma Limited, based in Weybridge Surrey was founded in late 2002 and after becoming the first SAP Business One Partner in the UK back in 2003, Yuma remains one of the leading SAP Business One resellers in the UK.The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) is a modern, leading-edge trade association representing the UK garden industry.

Yuma's status as an SAP Gold Certified Partner means that you can benefit from our in-depth product knowledge and wealth of experience in implementing SAP Business One solutions into a diverse range of business types. As a company, Yuma only deals with SAP Business One and its associated applications and we are therefore 100% committed and focussed on the product.

Post implementation, Yuma boasts one of the largest dedicated SAP Business One support teams in the UK with a great deal of experience, ensuring that you receive the best possible support on a day-to-day basis.

The Action Manager

A comprehensive Health & Safety software that makes compliance a great deal easier to achieve and a lot less time consuming.

Many organisations get caught out because they think that simply producing a few documents will make them compliant with Health & Safety legislation.

The real challenge with Health & Safety is not just to produce the relevant documentation, but to ensure that you actually follow-up and carry out all the things you have said you are going to do in your Polices, Risk Assessments, etc.

TAM will help you ensure that everything you have stated in your Health & Safety documentation actually gets done.

TAM is a web-based, flexible and scalable Health & Safety management system suited to any type and size of organisation. You don't need to worry about software updates, hardware maintenance, or back-ups as we do all that for you. Provided you have internet access, you have 24/7 access to TAM from anywhere in the world.

Charities

BTCV

The Conservation Volunteers have been reclaiming green places since 1959.

Right now, when one third of the UK's green places are in danger of being lost or degraded, our work is more important than ever.

The everyday green places that people use are especially vulnerable. 10,000 playing fields were sold off between 1979 and 1997. And only 10% of the UK's allotments remain. Places like these do not have special protection. They are all under threat at a time when local councils are cutting budgets.

But neglecting green places is a false economy. It doesn't take long for a once-loved open space to become a magnet for anti-social behaviour, and a cost to society.

So looking after green places isn't just about caring for nature. It's about caring for people as well.

A well-used green place is a classroom, a gym, a playground and a sanctuary. It is a place that is good for people as well as for wildlife.

The Conservation Volunteers help hundreds of thousands of people each year to reclaim local green places. Through our own environmental projects and through our network of 2,000 community groups, we see people – every day, and all across the UK – taking responsibility for their own local environments.

Canterbury Oast Trust

The Canterbury Oast Trust (COT) is a dynamic and forward thinking - charitable trust set up in the mid 1980s by a pioneering group of parents. Today we support adults with learning disabilities across Kent and East Sussex to live independently and take control of their lives.

Greenfingers Appeal

Greenfingers exists to support children and families in children’s hospices around the country.

Greenfingers has launched its ‘Rosy Cheeks’ appeal, which is committed to creating at least 10 more magical gardens for children’s hospices over the next 2 years.

These much needed gardens will enable children and families to enjoy precious moments, enjoying a range of therapies, playing or resting outside in the fresh air and away from the bedside.

If you would like to get involved in supporting Greenfingers work, please visit www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk or contact on 01494 674749.

Home Farm Trust Ltd

Hft is a leading national charity that supports people with learning disabilities. Everyday their creative and resourceful thinking helps people to get the most out of life. Their person-centred support, combined with their leadership in the use of personalised technology, enables people with learning disabilities to live more fulfilled lives.

Kent Wildlife Trust

We aim to work with people at all levels to bring about a renaissance of our natural heritage through the local and national programme of a Living Landscape and Living Seas.

We are protecting, enhancing and restoring wildlife by working with individuals and organisations across Kent and Medway to halt and reverse biodiversity decline on land and in the sea.

Recently, the Trust has:

Campaigned for the establishment of Marine Conservation Zones, in which marine wildlife is protected from damaging operations and allowed to start recovering in order to provide a core from which the sea’s biodiversity can be replenished.

Worked with local councils and businesses to ensure development takes place in a way which does not harm wildlife, seeking positive gain for wildlife whenever possible.

Campaigned for a white paper on the natural environment, setting out an ambitious new direction for nature conservation.

Advised the owners of many areas of land, including Local Wildlife Sites, on how to manage their land for wildlife.

Encouraged communities to protect and enjoy wildlife in their local area.

Perennial Gardeners Royal Benevolent Society

Perennial, established in 1839, is the only charity committed solely to helping those who work in the diverse world of horticulture and related professions ... Whether you are nursery staff, grower, landscaper, gardener, green keeper, tree surgeon, a grounds man or any other horticultural specialist.

In a livelihood that is often dependent upon good health and physical strength we know the devastating effect illness or injury can have upon you and your families...particularly when low income, job insecurity and retirement present additional problems.

Whatever the hardship faced, Perennial is there for you...only a phone call away! Each year hundreds are helped, who due to illness, debt, homelessness or just old age, have found themselves unable to cope. In 2012 86% of applicants were under retirement age.

Our nationwide team of Caseworkers respond quickly and effectively, providing free, confidential advice, support and financial assistance whenever it is needed for as long as it is needed. To get people back on their feet and to rebuild their lives.

What a fantastic reassurance to staff and employers.

Tree Aid

TREE AID helps villagers living in the drylands of Africa unlock the potential of trees to reduce poverty and protect the environment.

“Two for One” – the TREE AID Philosophy

At TREE AID, we believe that tackling poverty and environmental protection are inseparable.

We help villagers in the drylands of Africa unlock the potential of trees to break this cycle of environmental decline and poverty. We help create self-reliance for poor communities building not only their chances of survival but also their dignity and respect.

At the same time, we help poor people invest in their environment, building its richness and health not just for today but for generations to come.

It’s what we call a “two for one” solution that breaks the cycle of poverty and environmental decline and offers a sustainable way forward for people across the Sahel.

Themes:
What we do – there are four key themes to our work which all our projects incorporate.

Access and rights:
Securing long-term access to natural resources for the poor and making rules and regulations clear and enforceable ensures that they have confidence in and can benefit from protecting and enhancing those resources.

Looking after the environment:
Building a greater understanding of how best to manage natural resources in order to protect and improve the environment, and making the benefits clear.

Nutrition and food security:
Increasing crop yields and establishing an additional food supply from tree fruits helps poor communities produce more food, reducing hunger and malnutrition and increasing resilience in times of drought.

Enterprise and trade:

Supporting the poor to develop income sources from the sale of non-wood tree products provides cash to spend on immediate needs and creates the means to invest in their families’ future.

WaterAid

WaterAid work with local partners to help communities access safe water and sanitation. And we use our experience and research to influence decision-makers to do more to provide these vital services.

They only use practical technologies and make sure the right skills exist in the community so they can keep them working long into the future.

By working with local partners they are able to invest in the future of local communities so that they can continue the good work. This is an essential part of their work as they believe it is the most progressive and sustainable approach.

Yet the sheer scale of the crisis means that WaterAid can't solve it alone. So they work with communities to influence governments and other service providers to prioritise safe water and sanitation.

The incredible generosity and commitment of all their supporters – individuals, institutions and companies – is behind everything WaterAid do.